Dim Sum
by PhoenixMageFire
Summary: Dim Sum is always served with tea. They are tiny portions with endless variety and come with the occasional dose of crack. Drabble series; standard spoiler alerts apply. The kitchen is open.
1. Theory

This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I make no money from being a fan. The owners make money from my being a fan.

Theories

One of Zuko's tutors had told him that boys fell in love with women who reminded them of their mothers. Odd. The older he became, the less sense this made, and so the more he thought about it. Years later, Zuko knew he could never marry a woman like his mother. Ursa's memory was a sacred, untouchable thing. Loving Mai was nothing like that.

The Mother theory was presented to the prince around the same time Mai was introduced formally at court. Azula had wanted to meet the students from the most influential families before starting her courses at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Five girls of good-breeding and fine manners came to the palace, and three of them faded immediately into the background.

Two had been able to resist his sister's supremacy. One, through an effervescent will unlike any seen before in the hallowed halls of royalty. Even the servants most skilled in dealing with children foamed at the mouth by the time Ty Lee left. Mai, however, let the princess's malice roll over and around her without allowing it to touch a single super-straight hair. She was slightly terrifying in that way, and at his young age, he tried to spend as little time dwelling on it as he could.

It was many years before Zuko understood what she represented in his life. And by that time, his anger and bitterness overwhelmed all but the memory of red silk and a biting wit.


	2. Scars

Disclaiming: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I make no money from being a fan. The owners make money from my being a fan.

Scaring

By all appearances, body shyness had nothing to do with the Air Nomads' vision of Enlightenment. It was a good thing for both of them. Aang had an exhibitionist streak, and Katarra just couldn't stop watching those tattoos glide across her beloved's skin as he moved. It was rare, impractical really, for Water Tribesmen to adorn their bodies so, but it seemed to be common for Airbenders. His arrows were all connected, and they weren't the only marks he had. On the inside of his wrist, a colored patched showed that his home was in the Southern Air Temple. A line across his heart named Appa his animal guide.

He'd even offered to teach her how to mark tattoos so that she could record the milestones of their life together on his skin. But the thought of intentionally hurting him over and over for hours made her pale. Even though he assured her that the pain was crucial to the ritual and the scar was only part of its meaning.

So instead, when they got engaged, he mixed a strong smelling paste and swirled it all over her hands and feet in sacred symbols before inviting her to do the same. Katarra had subsequently drawn the sure strokes of Water Tribe signs on his face and neck, the only parts of his body that would not be covered over when they journeyed to the South Pole in the coming weeks. Just to make sure there would be no convenient misunderstandings when they made a side trip to Kyoshi Island.


	3. Idiot Savant

Disclaiming: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I make no money from being a fan. The owners make money from my being a fan.

Idiot Savant

There was just no getting around it. Sokka was an idiot. But he was a brave idiot and in that light Suki could tolerate him. Kyoshi Islanders valued courage beyond gold. It (along with sheer bloody-mindedness) had kept their home safe from the outside world and their ships safe from the Unagi. That Sokka was a humble idiot was nothing short of amazing. Traveling with the Avatar, Suki had expected the older boy to be arrogant and while he did not disappoint, he could admit when he was wrong and make amends for himself.

In that light, she could love him.


	4. Temple Life

Disclaiming Standard: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I make no money from being a fan. I have no money because I am a fan.

Temple Life

Growing up, sunrise at the Southern Air Temple saw every monk and novice gather for morning rituals. No matter if there was snow, thunder, or a sky so perfect Aang's feet ached to be off the ground. Monk Gyasto had once convinced Aang he could only be a Master Airbender if he could perform the hour long ritual in one breath. It was a year before he realized that his guardian was infrequently serious.

Undulled by war or time, every word and gesture was engraved into him. Every man and boy (and the more curious lemurs) had recited mantras to the rhythmic clack of prayer beads. They thanked the Sky Bison for the gift of flight. They praised the Spirits of the Air and renewed their vows to hold all life sacred.

Most importantly, and most perplexing, within every ritual was their Ancestors' warning that enlightenment came only by rising above the world they knew and the suffering of life.

Aang the boy had no understanding of the worldly concerns he was supposed to separate from. Life from his point of view had always been pretty good. So for a long time, his knowledge of affliction was limited to being hungry between mealtimes, scraping his knee, or sitting still. But when he began to leave friend after friend behind in his bending lessons, Aang's eyes opened a little wider.


	5. Perception

Disclaiming Banner: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I have no money because I'm a fan. The owners make their money from my being a fan.

Perception

Maybe being sighted meant other people just had to notice less than she did. Maybe their brains would blow up if they tried. Because being blind really didn't seem that bad from Toph's own way of thinking. She could skip out on going to a finishing school where she learned to be just like every other wussy rich girl. Sometimes people forgot that she could even hear them and let slip things she could blackmail them with. Opponents underestimated her all the time and their surprise and/or humiliation never got old.

Nope, being blind didn't take away from her life. It didn't keep her from noticing how dumb her parents were. They chose not to see what the world was like. Mother had no idea how delicious rice was because she never let herself eat as much as she wanted. Father couldn't figure out that the cook spit in his tea at least once a week. And they thought their money would protect them from the Fire Nation.

She was ten, and her parents were something so much worse than blind.


	6. Fear

Disclaiming Banner: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I have no money because I'm a fan. The owners make their money from my being a fan.

Fear

Sleep had never come easily for her. Azula had been a colicky infant and had continued into toddler hood without sleeping a whole night through. Insomnia was not unheard of in their family. Great-grandfather Sozin and Uncle Iroh were said to be susceptible in their youth. The princess had never really minded. Sweets were unguarded at night; adults made secrets when she and Zuzu were supposed to be in bed.

Assassins came to the Palace while she was meant to be asleep. The first instance was during the time she usually crept to the kitchen to take dumplings. At four years old and long after Ursa had put her to bed with songs and her favorite pillow, a shadow stole into her nursery. Azula had come back to her chamber full and sleepy at last to see a stranger stabbing a knife into her favorite pillow. It was the first time in her life that she felt fear. Fear compounding into terror as the murderer saw her in the doorway.

In years to come, Azula would deny feeling anything but the rage of her bending. As it played out, desperation was what fueled the first spark as she lashed out childishly, feebly imitating the masters that tutored cousin Lu Ten. Then the stranger's foot ignited and it was his turn to be afraid.


	7. Act

Disclaiming Banner: I would love for there to be money for me in fanfiction, but there isn't.

Special thanks to roflZuko for my first review on this drabble series!

Act

Hate was powerful. It was the first rule of war that Sokka had learned. Hate would keep people fighting apart, keep people together, and even just keep them going if it was strong enough. At five, Tanuq had stolen his boomerang and he thought he understood what hate was. So he had promptly split the other boy's lip open.

When Mom was killed he had his first real taste of true hatred. But he was young, and it was his father's time to act. He wasn't a bender but he lived on the ice and he understood how to move around a problem like water. The Fire Nation would probably still be there in a few years. He just needed a little patience.

It was a surprise, then, that his first instance of all-consuming, rage was against another Water Tribe boy in the North Pole. And Hahn wasn't putting babies on spikes. Years later, Sokka understood that Hahn wasn't even really _evil_ for letting circumstance steal happiness from Yue's future. But hate is powerful.


	8. Purple Playtapusbear

Disclaiming Banner: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I have no money because I'm a fan. The owners make their money from my being a fan.

Thank you Dip, I'm glad you like it.

Purple Playtapus-bear

Bending lightning was just like lieing. All Azula needed was to be calm, be focused. Breathe in and slice one half of herself away from the center, don't let it touch the other half, even if you want it to. Breathe out and crash the two opposite/separate pieces together and allow them to become more than they were before.

Bending lightning was almost easier than lieing really.


	9. Sense and Insanity

Disclaiming Banner: If I had come up with Avatar, I would be a better writer than this. I didn't, so I'm not.

Sense and Insanity

When he was fourteen and nearing the second year of his banishment, Zuko heard the rumors starting below decks. The crew thought he was mad. They knew Uncle was mad, no sane person enjoyed music night that much. The impossible task of finding the Avatar notwithstanding, the older men rankled taking orders from a disgraced boy. They wanted to go home and some were easily convinced that Zuko was running down the path of dangerous insanity. It was winter when his third officer instigated a mutiny.

It failed. No one on this ship rose to Azula's level at plotting. Those that had not perished during the battle for control of the ship were chained without cover to the deck; the prison hold wasn't large enough for all of them. That same evening, Zuko himself beheaded the leader. There could be nothing less at such a time. He made the whole crew watch, and ordered funerary rights for afterward. Uncle was pleased with that. He gave the new (much more loyal) helmsman orders to the nearest Fire Nation port to resupply and restaff.

He didn't remember making it back to his quarters, but he definitely woke from a fit of panic seated in front of his alter to Agni. The was blood everywhere and some of it was his. A sort of calm descended on him as the boy tended wounds made by dissenter and by himself. And Zuko pondered that he might just not be sane anymore.


	10. Last Rights

Disclaiming Banner: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I have no money, and expect to remain poor.

Thank you Kimberly T! You made me giggle a little to have so many reviews pop up.

Last Rights

Sailing past the bodies of the Fire Nation Navy was excruciating. The cloud of wreckage and lost sailors stretched on for days and Aang refused to look away. Almost a week had past since they left the stronghold of the Northern Water Tribe. Almost a month had passed since Princess Yue fixed his mistake. How could he have know it would turn out like this? How could he have allowed it to happen?

It was his fault. Koh had kept him distracted and away from his duty to the Water Tribe; but it was still his responsibility. Aang the Avatar was supposed to be above this kind of...of horribleness. Aang the Airbender wished he had been.

The city had thousands of civilians, kids younger than him. The Fire Navy were all trained soldiers, they had agreed to be in harm's way. He had a duty to protect people that couldn't fight for themselves, but he had a duty to these men floating dead in the sea. Every Waterbender in the world had felt the loss of the Moon Spirit, but he and maybe no one else, had felt the Ocean's satisfaction.

He wasn't going to look away.


	11. Too Easy

Disclaiming Banner: This is fan fiction, written by a fan. I have no money, and expect to remain poor.

Too Easy

It was ridiculously easy to kill the Firelord. It shouldn't have been so easy. Azulon was her Lord. He was the son of Sozin, who had betrayed her grandfather, yes that was true. He was trying to wipe out the Water Tribes and conquer the Earth Kingdom. That could not be ignored.

Even if he did mean the death of her first born... He had chosen her to become part of his family. His blood flowed through the veins of her husband, brother, and children. Azulon was a tired old man.

It should have been difficult to creep into his chambers in the early morning hours and steal the heat from his beating heart. Ursa could not help, pondering over his unnaturally cold corpse, how much of herself _was_ in Azula.


	12. Zutarra?

Disclaiming Banner: I make no claim to ATLA. I would if I could, but I'm the little engine that can't.

A/N: Sorry to any die hard Zutarrans. In my mind this is really the only way it would work out.

The Only Way

It was absurd. Some days it made her ill with the meaninglessness of it. Fire and Water. Zuko ... and herself. Them. Katarra and Zuko; like some cosmic joke!

But no one was laughing and neither of them had been born fortunate. They understood hatred, and duty, and the sheer momentum of staying alive. So when Mai had died giving the Fire Nation an heir and Zuko a son, Katarra had been there to keep him going. Those first few days were to spite the Universe in general, the next few years were for his little boy. And when Aang was slain, too, too young, in an uprising, Zuko was there for her and her son.

And eventually that had nothing more to do with duty or spite.


	13. Heir

Disclaiming Banner: I make no claim to ATLA. I am waaaay to poor for that.

Heir

As a young man, he had not wanted children. He understood as Crown Prince, he would need an heir, but child rearing was never a task he looked forward to. His brother Ozai was still a toddler when Iroh had married and encounters with the sheer unpleasantness of infants left him hesitant to sire one of his own.

Of course, there would be servants to take on the bulk of the labors. Surely the Dragon of the West wouldn't be expected to oversee both the front-lines and whatever brood he and his wife had.

Two years into his marriage saw the birth of his son and heir. It was for the best. He and his wife were both young and this auspicious start to their married life would secure the future of the nation. Iroh would go back to the front-lines and capture more territory for the Firelord. He would visit "home" twice a year and plan to sire another child, just in case.

He never gave it much more thought until Lu Ten began to speak and didn't know Iroh was his Father.


	14. Consequence

Disclaiming Banner: I would love for there to be money for me in fanfiction, but there isn't.

Consequence

It was easy to change destiny.

Chun Hei Wu's very existence was proof of that. Her grandfather, Fong, had been an Airbender and he had chosen to leave his nation for the love of a lifetime. Her grandmother, Jen, was from the Earth Kingdom. No one in her clan had bent anything in generations, and there had been meat at the wedding. Cutting ties with the other nomads began as star-crossed love and became survival.

Sozin's Comet came, the War came, and finally Wu came. Born in the autumn, Fong had been terrified that she would sneeze in front of a Fire Nation patrol and be executed. As the years passed, it became clear that she had no talent for bending the elements. Instead, she had an itinerant youth and a talent for something as difficult to grasp as air. Wu could walk down a street and know who would lose their favorite hat, who would have children, who would die in battle. It was wonderful and horrible.

Even when she was surprised, Wu could see the outcomes. If she left that area, she would survive this plague; if she married her suitor, they would both wind up having an affair. Fragile strands of consequence stretched away from everything.

When Wu began to wear the yellows and orange of her grandfather's people after his death, she knew no one else understood it. The Earth Kingdom was already forgetting the Nomads. And as she came to a village ensconced ridiculously close to a volcano she could feel Change coming to life.


	15. Cessation of Motion

Disclaiming Banner: I do not claim ownership of the compulsion to write these daydreams down nonetheless ATLA which has inspired them.

Cessation of Motion

The world was not kind to the Water Tribes. She knew that from the moment she could speak. But losing her Mother and_ knowing _she might have done something about it if she hadn't been afraid; that hurt in ways that didn't fit into words. It hurt so, so much. But the man who had killed her was gone, and her Tribe was still here. The waves still pushed, and the moon still shown. And her family needed her.

Dad kept forgetting to eat, he needed to be reminded. Sokka stopped warrior training, she needed to make him practice. Gran gran couldn't do all the chores, the cold bothered her joints more than ever this season. And the water was still there, always everywhere around her changing from snow to spring melt to ice and mist and back again. And if she was really a Waterbender, then she would be the water. Right now her Family and her Tribe needed her to be in motion, so she would do what Mom used to do and gather, and work, and provide for them.

Until they didn't need her to move for them anymore this hurt in her chest would not. That _thing_ would be ice, and stillness, and anchored somewhere she wouldn't look at it as long as the people around her needed her to be in motion.


	16. Regard

Disclaiming Banner: If I had come up with Avatar, I would be a better writer than this. I didn't, so I'm not.

Regard

He didn't_ like_ Prince Zuko. He would probably never _like_ the Prince. He was too arrogant by half, and impatient enough to endanger any person he chanced to meet. He was far too young to be out in the world on a suicide mission.

General Iroh lavished affection on the boy, but every enlisted man on this floating wreck knew that sooner or later Prince Zuko would kill himself. Whether or not it would be intentional, only time could tell; and it would be far from the truth to say Jee wished the Prince harm. He never asked more of his crew than he was himself willing to do, but he was always pushing too hard.

Without question, serving with General Iroh was a great honor no matter the circumstances. And the tea was a bonus.


	17. Oversight

Disclaiming Banner: If I had any claim over ATLA, I would be going to Comic Con this summer instead of trolling YouTube for fan videos.

Oversight

In some ways, Ty Lee was still invisible. She now stood apart from her sisters, but she was overshadowed by her friends. It was frustrating, it was humiliating and painful, but she would never let it show. Instead while people were watching what they thought she was, she was working out what they really were; smiling all the time.

Ty Lee's family had built a fortune from metalworking and she had visited the foundries often. She had witnessed the skin and hair of workers scorch as they fed the all consuming blaze arching from deep within the furnace. Princess Azula held fire, used fire, melded scraps of ugliness into searing, raw perfection. As long as something was there to feed on.

Mai, her dearest confidant, was overshadowed herself by Azula but less discontented by it. She had a will like an ember: constant, comforting, and waiting for the moment she could achieve what she wanted. That drive was only part of the reason Ty Lee could never act on her own wants.

When Zuko had been banished, she had gone through her days as cheerfully as expected. She was Princess Azula's first, and could not behave as less. But at night she had cried alone in her room for a month. Azula was like a blast furnace, but Zuko was the _fire_. He was growing up to have the skill and the power to make without destroying everything.

He never looked her way.


	18. Soap

Disclaiming Banner: I hear-by declare for the benefit of all sentient beings that I have no right or claim to ownership of ATLA as an intellectual property. But I can still dream.

Soap

A hundred years of war had shown what Earth was about. Earth was about stability. It was about the planet deciding to Stay Here until something extraordinary came along and forced light, or movement, or puppy-rabbits into it. And when that force started the avalanche, it didn't stop until Earth felt like It.

Of course, Toph was the avalanche. At two (maybe two, or three, those memories were all fuzzy) the servants hadn't bothered to keep her pristine clean. She'd been an adventurous, messy baby and they just expected her to get dirty. Many a happy, happy day had passed roving in the gardens figuring out what the world felt like. Five was so different, it was like torture. Five saw her Earthbending training crawl by at such a slow pace that she began to wonder if Master Jerk ever wanted her to play in the dirt again. Maybe the laundry staff had bribed him...

She met the badger-moles when she was seven, though, and it was like being born again. But waaaaaay more exciting this time around. Ten, meant that she was the Blind Bandit finally. She got to say things in the ring that would get her mouth washed out with soap at home.

And the whole world knew she was Awesome by twelve.

Now that she was fifteen, she wanted to scrub out her own brain. For the first time in her life she _wanted_ soap. Naturally, it was her parents fault. They had set aside their dislike for each other one more time and managed to produce another kid. And brain-bleach aside, it was Toph's new mission in life to make sure it grew up in the mud. Fortunately, she was still the avalanche.


	19. War Paint

Disclaiming Banner: I would sorely love to own ATLA, I really would. But I don't, and so Sokka is staying right where he is.

War paint

The Southern Water Tribe didn't do betrothal necklaces. Their settlements had always been smaller than the Northern Tribe's so they'd never needed to separate couples off from the masses with physical tokens. They'd never had the resources for it either. Stone and plant fiber were in shorter supply in the south. And as the Water-benders were taken by the Fire Nation raids, survival took precedent over such implications of wealth. Gifts of pelts, meats, quality building materials to make their life together safe and comfortable; that was what a man of the Southern Tribe provided to a woman and her family during courtship.

But Suki wasn't Water Tribe and the things Sokka could provide didn't have the same meaning to her. This was a problem. He couldn't even ask her own parents about it. Her father had been lost at sea during a fishing voyage and her mother had been a Kyoshi Warrior before her and died in a border skirmish with the Fire Nation. It was a really big problem; but Sokka was good at thinking new ways around problems.

When he asked Suki to marry him, Sokka presented her with Warrior's Wolf Paint.


	20. Manus

Disclaiming Banner: Fan-fiction is the free expression of love for someone else's intellectual property. Someone else's.

A/N: Charliesky has made a salient point in a very kind review. If you can't or decide not to review; you're not really evil. I'm thrilled whenever I notice people reading my stuff, no matter what. And my sincerest thanks go out to anyone who might go further than that.

Manus

She loved watching hands. From an early age, Mai had understood people through their hands. Servants' hands, aristocrats', clerics', soldiers' nails/bones/ligaments/skin all stained indelibly with their lives.

When they first met, Zuko and Azula had almost the same hands. Their skin had been soft, well tended by servants the same way her own hands were. Beneath both sets of skin were bones and muscles that already had strength enough to break toys and hurt. The greatest difference she could see between them was that the Princess had the most burn scars; while her Prince's hands were so much warmer.

History brought them together so suddenly after years apart. Mai was different, but Zuko was changed. His skin was darker and rough from wind, and too much sun; and later what she learned was ill-tended frostbite. She wept for his hands, she never wept for his eye. His sense of touch was deadened by callous on callous and from breaking his fingers during practice. His knuckles were cracked and bleeding from laboring in teashops. The joints in his wrists were showing signs of arthritis after bearing too much weight during too many training sessions.

But he was still Zuko, and when she held him for the first time in three years his hands were still warm.


	21. Pretty little Thing

Disclaiming Banner: If you actually believe that I own ATLA, I have a drill to sell you.

Pretty little Thing

They were bred for war. Out of duty and the obligation to continue Firelord Sozin's great work. Well, the men were anyways. The women, they were the last, most crucial line of defense. They were meant to keep the home islands safe: because sooner or later the savages would come knocking.

The peasants were expected (read allowed) to go into the Home Guard, but noblewomen like Mai were expected to go to the Royal Academy. No matter how boring it was for any reasonable eight year old. No, her parents insisted that she go and learn the proper way to defend their nation. That meant guile, a good marriage, and minimum effort from themselves.

Truthfully though, it wasn't all bad. She kind of, sort of, liked the idea of being around other people. And by the time her instructors got to recognizing and crafting poisons, she was a little less bored than at home.


	22. Benignity

Disclaiming Banner: I don't own ATLA because purple platypus bears aren't allowed intellectual property rights under our oppressive international copyright laws.

Benignity

He didn't hate the other monks, not even the Abbot for trying to take his beloved pupil away. Truly he did not for their actions stemmed from fear. Fear of war, fear of attachment. Gyatso understood this; human beings are weak against fear. Firelord Sozin was fearful. Roku's life-long letters to himself made it clear the man was driven, obsessive, and increasingly cruel.

No he did not hate the other monks for fearing the repetition of those war-mongering Fire Nation colonies from two decades before. But he would not forgive them for the way they struck Aang out of the sky.


	23. Born Lucky

Disclaiming Banner: I don't own ATLA.

Born Lucky

By all accounts, her child would be blessed. The baby was due to be born in high summer, along with the great fire-benders of history. All of the mid-wives were certain she was carrying a boy though it didn't matter so much to her as the strong, healthy, way 'he' kicked her belly. As a first-time mother, she tried to focus more on the preparation of the nursery, the delivery space, and the rites that would keep 'him' safe from birth monsters.

The day the Sage had predicted he would be born came and went. Then a week after that. 'He' still kicked the same as ever, but the blows seemed to hurt more and more. The third week came to pass, and it was decided that her labor must be induced. Honestly, she was looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. Birth is dangerous. Mothers die. These were facts.

Princess Hitome could only pray that if the worst happened, her lord's second wife Ursa would love her Zuko or Kyomi as much as he/she deserved.


	24. Missing from History

Disclaiming Banner: Someday, when I'm all grown up, I still won't own ATLA.

A/N: To answer a recent question, yes I have decided to accept suggestions/prompts/requests. Can't really hurt, can it?

Missing from History

She had hated Prince Iroh upon first sight across the wedding alter. And neither one of them did much to encourage lovingness in their marriage. Her husband had never mistreated her; this loathing had not come from any cruelty on his part. Chiefly, the lack of tenderness between them came out of their helplessness. Crown Prince Iroh needed a proper wife to further the Royal Line, and Te Lan fit all the criteria. She was of noble blood on both sides; her brother was a high-ranking naval officer and her elder sister had already produced two fire-benders. She was attractive enough, and skilled in ceremonial fire dancing (it was the only instance she felt allowed to indulge in passionate catharses).

But it was too difficult to read what Iroh thought of her. He was polite, but distant in a way that was studied and enforceable. He was a general first, a Prince second, and he might be a husband third. She only hoped they would produce an heir quickly and that she could go back to her tea ceremony in peace.


	25. Reprieve

Disclaiming Banner: I don't own ATLA. I know this because my attention span is to short for TV.

Reprieve

He had been prepared. The physician had not spoken of it, but Zuko had been ready to be blind in his scared eye. The resulting lack of depth-vision would be a set back in his training, but he would just work even harder. That struggle, more than being flesh and blood, was what defined him. The physician and Uncle had pulled back the gauze and under their guidance and their medicines, the boy had moved his eye as much as he could. He had told them what he could not see, he had listened to instructions with half an ear, and he had sent them away.

Then he pretended not to weep for the snatches of color and movement that were still there.


	26. Oblique

Disclaiming Banner: I don't own ATLA. I own a cactus that I can't even drink out of.

Oblique

He didn't like Pai Sho. It wasn't his style to be troubled with tiny things that pretended at the grandiose. The insignificant were and would always be so. It wasn't his style to slink around a problem either. To cut and burn through an obstacle was more efficient. To allow his hindrance no time to reflect on their littleness was much more civilized than the games his elder brother played.

Iroh. His brother who didn't understand what it truly meant to be Firelord. It was nothing as vulgar as having power over nations. It was about being Right.

A/N: This one was really hard to write. I just can't wrap my brain around Ozai. I just finally got frustrated enough to post it anyway.


	27. Nervosa

Disclaiming Banner: I do not claim ownership of the compulsion to write these daydreams down, nonetheless ATLA which has inspired them.

Nervosa

There were days, whole weeks even, when Azula hated the thought of food. The urge to lose herself to the lightness of being empty was all but overwhelming.

She forced herself to eat of course; there was no sense in such an urge. No matter if she half gagged at the smell of soup, or it felt like a dragon had lain an egg in her belly. Even if the fire in her blood could burn out of control if she swallowed one more grain of rice. There were other girls during her academy days, failing at whatever, who suddenly stopped taking care of themselves. Those girls who weren't of the Blood, (some weren't even benders) and tiny problems were all it took to break them apart. With the most horrible consequences. Mental focus would be affected, the heart's beat unsteadied, their hair might even fall out. There wasn't anyway it would happen to her. It was unacceptable.

So she never let it happen.


	28. No Boys Allowed

Disclaiming Banner: Hear ye, hear ye. Let it be known throughout all the Fandom; the Lord and Master of ATLA is not me.

No Boys Allowed: A Mai and Katara friend drabble by request.

It started with the Fancy Lady Day Spa. They had barely spoken while in the Fire Nation. There was too much to do, to many loose ends to sew up and no one managed to make more than passing acquaintances. The sojourn to Ba Sing Se was more restful. Things had been quieted already by the Order of the Old People and that meant that the really important things could now be tended to.

Like her hair. Yes, Mai knew it was silly, and shallow, and many synonyms along that vein. But by Koh, she had certain standards and she was going to get it done. Prison life had been terrible for her hair and she just hadn't had the time for it yet. Today, though, today was the day. It was going to happen. Mai was going to a popular, near-by spa: and Katara decided to come too. And in her little Water Tribe brain, that meant that every other girl in the group was coming along. It was going to be a Girls' Day Out. Oh, joy.

Somewhere between Suki correcting the massage therapist on the proper technique, and Toph doing unnatural things to the pedicurists, she and Katara started talking. Mai had been prepared for awkward, polite, boredom in the company of these people she didn't actually know. Their chat, however, was surprisingly interesting. It was easy to spend an hour in the steam room discussing food rationing, chest-binding, moisturizer, and brothers.

It was so easy, Mai feared the next time they met hair-braiding was going to be the next logical step in their acquaintanceship.


	29. Wish

Disclaiming Banner: It just me and my laptop here. No copyrights in sight.

Wishing

The one single time that she truly had wished to see, had been during the flight from Ba Sing Se. On Appa's back, surrounded by air, Toph had no idea what was happening.

Everything had been too quiet. After running and fighting all day, without anybody else getting hurt, dragging Aang's dying body onto the bison had been the scariest moment of her life.

She had no idea when Aang started breathing again. She would have given up earth-bending if it meant that she had known one second less of fear that he was truly dead.


	30. Immortal

Disclaiming Banner: Possibly the only thing that I hate more than not owning something so cool as ATLA, is my %*#&# spell checker.

Immortal

The first human fire-bender had been forgotten by the rest of the world. But the Sun Warriors still remembered. Every year they gave a festival in commemoration of how he won the right to learn from the dragons. Their children learned his story in infancy and their elderly insisted the words were engraved on their very bones.

He had kindled the First Fire, and they kept it with the knowledge he would return every hundred years in celebration. In the outside world, his spirit had been renamed Sozin's Comet; but his children still knew him as Tien Hsien.


	31. Pasture

Disclaiming Banner: And the Lord said let there be light, and it was good. And Mike and Brian said let there be ATLA, and it was good.

Pasture

Jet liked grass. And wheat. And barely. And millet. The scent of it on the breeze, the taste of it as he reminded himself of the broken jaw that healed mostly right. They reminded him of growing up on the edge of the prairie far to the west. He remembered the rich soil that grew his father's crops, the smell of peat that fed his uncle's forge.

He didn't remember the field burnings. The excitement of making the preparations; digging this patch of land up so the fire couldn't spread too far for instance. Barrels of water had waited to quench the thirst of relations traveling days to transform a tired field into a fertile plot.

But he did remember how amazingly tall the grain seemed as it grew up over his head the following season. It had somehow felt even taller than the trees that crowded the other half of his horizon.


	32. Freeflying

Disclaiming Banner: I do not own ATLA.

Free-flying

Ty Lee was always glad when she didn't have to fight the Avatar. The way he bounded through and over the combat, or Princess Azula, reminded her too much of her favorite Aunt. Aunty Min, who laughed the loudest at the theater. She was the one who let Ty Lee tumble around and get dirty in her best clothes because it made her happy, who taught her how to fall without getting hurt, and how to read the weather with pin-point accuracy. The Avatar had the same light in his eyes that she had.

Aunty had been the one, not Father, to tell her the old family legends. Tall tales about the first komodo-rhino riders in the army; or the weaver's son who founded their clan by winning a dragon's favor. They were beautiful stories and during her years away from home, (the many times she was away from home) told them to herself again to remember that her kin were always more quick and clever than they acted.

Aunty had been the one person she told before leaving for the circus. A dark part of Ty Lee thought she might be the only one to notice, and it wouldn't be fair to her. In a flurry of hugs and goodbye kisses, Aunty had told her one last story. Of a great-grandmother who had cartwheeled instead of walking and who had never sailed a ship; because she could fly.

So it really was a good thing that Princess Azula decided the Avatar was her personal prey. Because Ty Lee might have forgotten and asked for a story instead of fighting.


	33. Exacerbate

Disclaiming Banner: Let it be known that ATLA belongs to Mike & Bryan. Not to some piddly fic writer.

Exacerbate

When Katara decided to forgive Zuko, it wasn't for any altruistic reason. She had decided to forgive him because she had had a taste of vengeance. And she didn't like it.

That monster, that had pretended to be a solider when he killed her mother would have been easy to snuff out. He had been empty and worthless. No one would have missed him.

She had taunted the fire-bender with his past mistakes. But Katara understood now how easy it was to grasp at something she'd wanted for so long.


	34. Leery

Disclaiming Banner: I posses the human spark. I think. I do know I do not possess ATLA.

Leery

He was a healthy teenaged-boy. Healthy dammit! But that did not mean he was ever going to tell Zuko about this. He wanted to live to be a healthy middle-aged-guy, thank you. So that meant he was never going to be able to go drinking with the young Firelord. No matter how much free booze that actually meant.

'Cause bad stuff would happen. Bad, soul-scarring, limb-rending stuff. Liquor and his deep, dark, secrets were pals. The last time Sokka had gotten drunk he'd admitted that sometimes he wanked to thoughts of Azula. Yup, that's right. Princess Azula. You in the back, stop with the gagging. Have you looked at her? When she's not talking, she's really hot.

But coming back to the soul-scarring. Suki might have taken his drunken admission on with some of her own drunken horniness; but that was Sokka getting lucky. If Zuko found out, (dear sweet Yue, never let him find out) he might just never get lucky again.

A/N: I have too much angst in Dim Sum. This was my personal challenge to be as irreverent as possible in under 200 words.


	35. Gone

Disclaiming Banner: I do not own ATLA. Now let there be fic.

Gone

It was fair. Toph told herself this at first as she trudged through the floodplains of the western coast. She had started where the destruction did, along the water's edge. Back and forth, she crossed the swath of burned ground three miles wide, sensing. Extending her senses down and out; hunting.

There was a lot to be found. To other people, the top of the ground must have just been a void. But she felt things moving around, and into, and _living_ in a land that had almost been stolen.

On the fourth day of walking, she found what she was looking for. It had only been two weeks, but under the circumstances it was like being reunited with a lost friend. Now she just had to get Space Sword to Sokka without her reputation going soft.


	36. Sacrifice

Disclaiming Banner: I have a better chance of owning a Ferrari than ATLA.

Sacrifice

When the winter came, the whole village gathered around the fire to tell tales against the darkness in the long-houses. The stories could come from the Beginning, or from the last Solstice. It didn't matter when really, as long as it was good. The ones that came from the hunt where Korra's favorite. The skill, deftness, and endurance of her fellow tribesmen were made legendary with time, scars, and meat. (Lots of meat; tasty.)

The tales from the Hundred Year War left her ... unsettled. Even as a little girl, she had the sensation of knowing how these stories were going to end. But the one that she almost hated was the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe. The nights always felt colder after hearing that chronicle, and the pull of the Ocean felt dark and scary.

The Siege was an important story, and it was told many times during Korra's first sixteen years of life. Gradually, she began to understand why it upset her. Yes, she was sad that Princess Yue kind of died. Most kids in her age group had had a sniffle over that. The part that upset Korra specifically, was that she had been the single person that could have saved them all. It was cruel, and it was unfair to place so much on the shoulders of a single being.

Every year that drew closer to the revelation of the Avatar left that feeling of unfairness coiling tighter in her gut.

A/N This was a request from a couple weeks ago. Fingers crossed for how it came off.


	37. WTF

Disclaiming Banner: I have a dream. Meeting Mike and Bryan, who really own ATLA.

WFT

Lee was a cabbage merchant. He was proud to be a cabbage merchant; it was fine and noble work to provide sustenance for the people of his country. He knew by the age of eight that he wanted to see the Earth Kingdom alongside such a humble and versatile product, even if his cousin Pao thought he was crazy. All he had to do was produce Great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Avatar Huang's journals and show him how much _he_ had loved cabbage.

Lee wasn't quite as enthusiastic as he had been.


	38. Painted

Disclaiming Banner: I think by now you've figured out who really owns ATLA.

Painted

She was already asleep by the time the factory had been built. Her people had forgotten her over time, lured away by others that had never touched her waters. When they began to resurect her from oblivian, she was too weak to assist.

She wanted to help them. She was fashioned for it, all those millienia ago when she had been a mortal wedded to the river's spirit. Little of her from before her sleep remained intact. But she knew the Avatar was nearing, all she had to do was nudge.

A/N: I'd like to give a special Thank You to Kimberly T. today for leaving me so many kind and helpful comments.


	39. Spice

Disclaiming Banner: All standards apply, except for the one on the washing machine.

Spice

It was impossible to say, really, how much Mai loved fire-flakes. Comforting in the dreary times. They could be fried in oil, baked in the hearth, or roasted right in with the coals. Fire-flakes could be sweet or savory, but they were always spicy.

It was something to look forward to each day. It was something she could share with her brother as well in the milder forms. They made him drool on Mother.


	40. Query

Danger Will Robinson! This drabble contains content of a Questionable Nature. Probably of an M rating nature.

Disclaiming Banner: All standards apply, because there is no way you can think Nickelodeon or Lost in Space would do this.

Query

The reason that Jet never sexed up Smellerbee was that he was pretty sure she was a lesbian. But it was something that he'd never been able to confirm. If Longshot knew what she was he didn't say. The fact that she would cut his balls off for trying anything with her was a good deterrent too. And it was easy to overlook her bed-warming potential when there were Fire Nation bints to have angry sex with down in the valley.

But he had, once, walked in on her goin' to town so to speak. He'd been impressed when she came just from teasing her tits. And after a week of smirking every time they saw each other, Jet had woken up bald.

So, it was a no on the sexy.


	41. Tea

Disclaiming Banner: I own a Christmas Cactus, and a pair of ridiculous glittery shoes. Not ATLA.

Tea

Hiring those two refugees had been the worst decision of his life. Half of his customers left for that Mushi's new teashop. The only ones who stayed with Pao were the ones to poor to travel between the rings OR leave a tip.

And as If that wasn't bad enough, the grumpy one turned out to be the future Firelord. Oh, his ancestors would never forgive him.


	42. Luxuria

Danger Will Robinson! This drabble contains content of a Questionable Nature. Probably of an M rating nature.

Disclaiming Banner: Disclaiming Banner: I am Not the owner of ATLA or Lost in Space

Luxuria

Chan wanted her. She knew as his body heated. In the way he kissed her; his tongue sliding out to trace her lips. No one had wanted _her_ before, not Azula the almost woman. Most wanted the Prodigy, the Princess. No one had wanted her because they thought they could have her.

It was disgusting and exhilarating at once. Even more so by her own incompetent flirting. Weeks after his house had been purged of his own stupidity, she achieved orgasm with some nobleman she couldn't remember the name of; thinking of the look on his face while it burned.


	43. Practice

Disclaiming Banner: If there is any mercy in this world, I will not be sued because ALTA owns my brain.

Practice

Katara complained less and less about chores as her water-bending progressed. Well, about the chores that involved water anyways. They weren't in the South Pole anymore. Water was much harder to find; just being around it was comforting.

As her bending progressed, she almost didn't notice the 'lack' of water any more. Certainly not in the way she had. It wasn't that she was taking it for granted, she didn't think. But maybe she was becoming more like Aang? He used his air-bending as if there was no separation between it and himself and his element. He was the Avatar, and so maybe the divide between them was less, but Katara was starting to think it was just about attitude.


	44. Fissure

Disclaiming Banner: I own a pair of brilliant red shoes, but they are not made of rubies and do not grant wishes. So I don't own ATLA.

Fissure

Jee knew he was petty. That knowledge in and of itself did not make him any less so. He, and the Prince, (and quite possibly the ship's cook) knew that the dissension between them had been of Jee's own stupidity. He had been the one to approach. He had allowed that the Prince set the rules. He had been the one to get smoked on shore leave and wake up with not one but two ladies of dubious pedigree. It didn't mean that he felt less angry than Zuko did. Had.

He had wanted, after that typhoon, to start again. But Jee just hadn't had enough time before Zhou interfered.

After he finally returned to the homeland one medical discharge among many; he felt the old ire anew. He had been out for a walk in the meditation gardens when he saw them, his Prince and a young lady. Who she was didn't matter, but her familiarity was painful. Jee felt like a ghost as they lazed beneath a yulan tree. It seemed to be a favored place, books and blankets spread around them. He watched her receive kisses Zuko had perfected on him.

His smile was the same.


	45. Sunstroke

Disclaiming Banner: I own ATLA. In an alternate reality made entirely of shrimp.

Sunstroke

The worst of marching to Ba Sing Se, Lu Ten decided, was the desert. If it was a true desert or not was debatable with the Shi Wong well to the south, but this was indeed a wasteland. Oh, it was not that the sun that was too hot. But rather that the earth would not cool. The water-skins were never full enough. Even the air seemed to have abandoned his army.

It did not bode well.


	46. Distance

Disclaiming Banner: I own ATLA in the same way that I own Atlantis.

Distance

When Yangchen was told she was the Avatar, it was with one part surprise and two parts relief that she received the news. She was more skilled in air-bending than her sister nuns, yes, but to be Avatar... The horizon extended in a way she had never known before.

She could go wherever she wanted, how far she wanted; in bending, or in anything. She would never have to answer the questions of her sisters if she would try for enlightenment. Or if she would continue to live as part of the World.


	47. Piggyback

Disclaiming Banner: If someone sues me for not owning ATLA they will win hysterical laughter at the trial.

Piggy-back

Her feet were burned pretty badly. And it was his fault so Zuko just didn't bother to complain when she insisted on being carried that first week. Even if Toph wiped her nose on his shirt or yanked on his hair.

It was probably a good thing in some respects. Katara was a little less grouchy when the tiny terror was on time for meals. And she didn't fight it as much when she didn't realize that they were heading to the bathing rooms. It went a long ways toward Aang really trusting him as a teacher, too.

But Toph herself...Zuko remained a little bit amazed all that time Toph insisted that he carry her around. It had been years since anyone had trusted him.


	48. Secret

Disclaiming Banner: Allow me to state that I have more chances of splitting a boulder with my head than making money from fanfiction.

Secret

Iroh didn't just play his tiles close to the vest. He might as well have carried them in his bones. Some of his secrets could have whole clans wiped out for high treason. Others would send what was left of his people scrabbling into chaos.

One of the lesser, (but no less stringently guarded mysteries) was the day that he turned against his father. Now some would consider his son's death to be the cause. It was in fact, the day his son was born that he turned in his heart from Azulon. The wife that had been chosen for him lay in danger from the exertions of childbirth and the Firelord would not deign to see the infant.

He was too busy organizing the invasion of the Hu Xin Provinces in the Earth Kingdom just across the courtyard.


	49. Phantom Pains

Disclaiming Banner: See previous drabbles for further disclaimers.

Phantom Pains

Bato could no longer feel anything in his left arm. And it wasn't even a fire-bender that had injured him. Just some scared, admittedly innovative, kid that had been in charge of his ship's tar supply. When he lets himself remember the day he brought his war club down and through such a young face, he thinks of his own son.

Kuruk was on this boat too, and on those days he already grieved for him.


	50. Sappy

Disclaiming Banner: Let it be known that while I do hold a touch for Zuko, I do not hold the copyright for ATLA.

Sappy

The reason Sokka had disliked Zuko for so long, was mostly because of Katara. The chasing and blowing up of stuff had a lot to do with it, but yeah...Katara. His sister had the worst taste in men. And here was an admittedly good looking, potentially wealthy, healthy teenaged-boy; guy.

Now he wasn't much on the Protect-From-Everything front. Katara never would have left the igloo much less the South Pole if that were the case. But he could try to be the Big Brother about some stuff. Fortunately, the jerk-bender tried to avoid everybody who wasn't Aang or Toph for the just the longest time. By the time Sokka got it in his head to go looking for Dad, he had started to wonder if Zuko was the asexual, fire-bending, honor machine that he'd always kinda dismissed to the back of his mind before.

Except...little details like the portrait of his Uncle, or letting The Duke tell him stories about life in the forest. He was cushiony around the edges now. He even brewed a mean cup of tea. Also, he still didn't seem to have anything below the belt.

He understood the situation completely when charcoal-breath talked about Mai. Sokka knew that goofy tone of voice pretty well.


	51. First

Disclaiming Banner: I still exist. I still don't have the copyright for ATLA.

First

Flying for the first time made finding that Aang kid worth it in Sokka's mind. Even if this bison thing was a giant, fluffy, snot monster, it was now upgraded to a _flying_, giant, fluffy, snot monster. Very cool, very repeatable.

It genuinely counted as the first good surprise in his entire life. Katara did not count. She sneezed icicles when she was a day old.

But for that first moment of discovery, the world fell away. He wasn't a too soon adult. He was just riding on a weird, living, breathing, wonderful creature and only they and the sky existed.


	52. Beginnings

Disclaiming Banner: I still exist. I still don't have the copyright for ATLA.

Beginnings

He didn't know he loved her at first sight. That was just weird. Romantic love came on more gradually than that. He was pretty sure it did anyways. The monks had taught them about love in a very general sense. The other kids at the Temple had been pretty young and he had been the Avatar. So, he didn't know much about _that_ kind of love.

And really, it had been a long time since he'd seen a girl. Probably since just after his final tattoos had healed over and the traveling artist had moved on to the next temple. But at the same time, Katara had such beautiful eyes and so much passion that it made him feel a little ashamed sometimes...

After the War, they had years to figure this love thing. But it really didn't take long for Aang to figure out he liked sex.


	53. Decimation

Disclaiming Banner: It just me and my laptop here. No copyrights in sight.

Decimation

If she wasn't Azula's oldest friend; she would have hated her. As it was, if she didn't obey unquestioningly, her clan was forfeit.

Uncles, cousins, wedded aunts. Any one clansmen in ten could be executed at any time for any infraction against her princess. It made more sense that she put herself forward instead and at least increase the chances that the household would survive strong into the next generation.

The moment that Zuko took the throne, she had that despicable practice outlawed for even the Firelord.


	54. Steel

Disclaiming Banner: [insert witticism] because I do not own ALTA.

Steel

Only the Fire Nation had managed to make true steel. Earth Benders just didn't seem to have the mindset to make iron better than what came out of the ground. It had served them well during the Century War to have steel ships that could freeze in the Poles without sheering apart or was sharp enough to cleave stone.

The steel-makers of the home islands had been 'protected' under the laws of Sozin, Azulon, Ozai, and Zuko. On pain of death the first three Firelords kept the secrets of their war machines (and their secret holders) from their enemies. During the rule of Zuko, metalwork was still a well guarded secret because he had seen his Uncle in chains.


	55. Gross

Disclaiming Banner: Long may Mike and Bryan continue to make money off of me because I do not own ALTA.

Gross

Once Katara had said that she was glad to have another girl in the group. Someone that just might understand when she didn't want to talk about fake mustaches, meat, or whether or not they had to have sea prunes tonight (yes they did).

Toph was not that girl. She was defiantly disgusting. There were not going to be discussions about boys she might like. There was not going to be a bending session, ever, were snot was not involved.

Suki wasn't any better. She was far too indulgent of Sokka for a start. No, in the end it turned out that the other girl in their little family was Zuko.


	56. Ty Lee

Disclaiming Banner: Long may Mike and Bryan continue to make money off of me because I do not own ALTA.

Ty Lee

The best thing about not being a bender, was that No One expected her to be a genius. She didn't have to be able to break a man with a single blow. She didn't even even have to be in the war. But she was, and no enemy could stop her. It was best, in some cases, to be born average.

The only room left was for improvement.


	57. Inspirit

Disclaiming Banner: I'm too tire to be witty about it. I do not own ALTA.

Inspirit

It was easy to not believe. It was a convenience, in fact. To think that there was some otherworldly entity that wanted the Tribe to suffer tasted like bile. It was easier to just deny that anything could be appealed to to make living a little less harsh.

But apparently enough people in their ragged little village believed. Because for all the pain and strife, Hakoda knew that his family were blessed.


	58. Kin

Disclaiming Banner: I do not own ALTA, but I do get the urge to listen to Emilie Autumn sometimes in the middle of an episode...

Kin

Sometimes, she almost understood what it must mean to be family for others. When _that_ look came across Zuzu's face, and she turned her teasing away from her own pleasure to his own good. It would be soon enough and he would understand that she was the natural choice for succession.

Other times, when Father smiled just for her and said she had done well. It would only be a few years, and then he would stop comparing her with her brother.

Some day, she would look into the mirror, and see her mother look back without fear.


	59. Inheritance

Disclaiming Banner: A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. I do not own ALTA. If you can guess what else I don't own, you win a virtual cookie.

Inheritance

It had never, not, been obvious that Mai and the rest of her family were nothing alike. There had even been times when she watched from the sidelines at a dinner party or political soiree and had waited for her 'real parents' to come and take her home.

By the time she began attending the academy, she understood that, yes her mother was indeed her mother. But maybe her father wasn't her father. Mai and Royu Lei were nothing much more alike than cousins. Come to think of it, her parents were third cousins anyway weren't they?

Keeping the money within the family could be useful; but most midwives advised against it. Perhaps her mother, taking a page out of the distant past had decided that a lover she wasn't related to would produce stronger offspring. Maybe her 'father' was impotent. Or it could have just been boredom.

Whatever the reason she bared a striking resemblance to a dead naval officer, Mai could, and had spent days perhapsing her way to near laughter.


	60. Destruction

Disclaiming Banner: I do not own ALTA. I don't even own the calendar that's telling me it Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Destruction

Hate wasn't anything new. That's what On Ji told herself everyday. That's what made it "okay" when her brother came back from overseas with his left leg missing. It made it less of "an issue" when the colony-kids that were more Earth than Fire pushed her in the mud.

There were good things too. Really there were. She was glad from the bottom of her heart that the war was over. Her parents could focus on living instead of worrying all the time. But hate wasn't anything new to the world; and no one had hated _her_ before.

A/N: Thank you every one for coming on this mad little ride with me.


	61. Nomads

Disclaiming Banner: I do not own ALTA. I kinda wish I had a polar-dog though...

Nomads

Annual Migration, Pakku had decided, was just too much work. It was one of the many things that he missed about the Northern Water Tribe. The capital had been so well planed; the trading and resources had been so well managed. The Spirit Oasis had been so important: the founders of the city had never even thought of moving with the herds. And he had been so removed from the labors of living and had lived for his Art... But the South Pole? It was more than just the other side of the world. It was Different.

At first, he had thought that the lack of permanent structures was all down to the lack of water-benders. It didn't take Kanna and the other Elders long to explain that they didn't _need_ permanent ice buildings. That when the village moved onto the next in a series of seasonal settlements; animals took them over. Large, cranky, animals that viewed any heat-holding place as their own.

That, in and of itself, was another problem. The Northern Tribe had had land that could support them, and the best fishing in the world. The South lived on the ice. They had bare rock and no cultivatable plants. Aside from sled polar-dogs, there were no animals that _could_ be kept.

And when the summer season came, they had to move further from the sea edge or risk falling into the unforgiving ocean. Even with every able body working, some one always got lost, something always broke. Great Spirits, how had the Air Nomads done it?


	62. Poetical

Disclaiming Banner: I do not own ALTA. If I did, I would have one of those neat mopeds.

Poetical

Aang worried some days what would happen when Appa couldn't fly anymore. There was a searing pain whenever he thought of that day, but worse would be new generations of air benders who didn't move. There had to be new airbenders. The world needed freedom and it needed air. The essential things of the world that humans couldn't change or even touch always seemed to balance themselves out. In time, eventually.

Maybe someday the war balloons could move them? It would be a little touch of irony. Rather appropriate actually.


	63. Metal

Disclaiming Banner: If I did own ALTA. I wouldn't have the rage that came with the end of the last episode.

Metal

It was exhausting being the daughter of THE Toph Bei Fong. It was made even tougher because Lin didn't have a father to talk to when mother was being... unreasonabler... than usual. It was a running discussion among her age group in school. The ones who knew both their parents.

Naturally when adulthood came, Lin thanked her mother for making her into a hard-ass. It made it easier to get over Tenzin. Wishy-washy, ungrounded, Air Boy that he was. But it hurt just the same, and then she got on with life.

More importantly; she could face the Equalists head on.


End file.
